[Advisory Board Highlights] Families & Kids welcome at Social Media Week London! Top Picks by Craig Hill of DOCO London

Today’s generation of children couldn’t imagine a world without Moshi Monsters, Club Penguin, YouTube, Facebook and a host of other social media platforms and devices at their fingertips. And they are connecting with other members of the family in a way that, arguably, is influencing the very concept of family today, and how it will develop in the future.

Whether you come from the Homer Simpson school of ‘I believe children are our future, unless we stop them now!’, or the ‘family is the foundation of our society’ camp, it is a fact that social media is having a profound effect on family life. We live in an era that future historians may well point to and say ‘that was the decade when a new notion of ‘family life’ emerged’. Yet so often this audience is overlooked at digital and social media conferences.

Which is why it’s great to see a number of sessions at Social Media Week in London tackling this fascinating, complex and hugely important subject. A great opportunity for anyone interested to listen and learn from a fantastic line up of family and kids experts.

‘Are the kids alright?’ looks into the critical issue of building safe social spaces for children online; also topical given Channel 4’s recent Habbo Hotel expose. Given how children today are increasingly exposed to brands online, it’s important this subject is tackled at SMW. (Book Now)